Table Manners

Greet your opponents whenever you arrive at their table, and greet them when they arrive at yours; but keep chatting to a minimum and stop chatting entirely once the bidding has begun.

The cards should not be taken out of a board until all players are present. Be sure to count them to make sure that you have exactly thirteen.

Don’t snap your cards or make any unusual movements to express irritation. Also, some players are very sensitive to card-snapping and just hate it.

Don’t wear perfume as many people are highly sensitive to perfume; and some are allergic. In fact, The Bridge Studio has adopted a No Perfume policy.

If you are on opening lead, lead first before writing down the contract. This gives Declarer a little extra time to make a plan and it keeps the game moving. The same goes for dummy, even if you are playing North. Lay your dummy down before you enter the contract into the scoring machine.

Avoid hesitations by being consistently deliberate in your bidding and play. Play smoothly and evenly (even on very bad hands) and remember that a hesitation followed by a pass places an extra burden on partner as any bids by him or her must be very clear cut. Do not be upset if an opponent calls the Director to monitor the auction in this situation as it is the proper thing to do.

Treat partner respectfully and you will be in demand. Don’t point out an error made at the table and don’t ever criticize your partner in front of others. If you feel you need to discuss something do it between tables, not at the table. You wouldn’t want to embarrass your partner.

At no time should there be any discussion of the hands. Wait until the game is over for post-mortems. Not only is it improper to discuss hands in front of opponents, it is usually not in the best interest of a partnership effort. When North scores the result on the traveler and offers it for the others to see, there should be no discussion of the results.

If your side gets a good board, don’t gloat. Don’t thank Opponents for giving you a trick you didn’t deserve; and don’t tell them they were lucky. That just marginalizes their accomplishments and makes you look bad.

After a board has been played, you may not, without permission, remove someone’s hand to look at it. If you have received permission, only one hand at a time may be out of the board.

Don’t give lessons to anyone at the table. If your opponent or your partner wants to know what they did wrong or how to better play or bid a hand they will ask.

Remember that the Director is your friend but that does not mean that he or she will always rule in your favor. All directors try to be knowledgeable and impartial in applying bridge laws that are not generally known nor easily understood. It is also in your best interest as a bridge player to learn the basic bridge laws covering such things as dummy’s rights and penalty cards as well as those concerning your responsibilities as a participant at the table.